Com200 Week 4 Assignment Hitch

Com200 Week 4 Assignment Hitch
Interpersonal Conflict in Film: Hitch
Rachel Loveless
COM200: Interpersonal Communication
Lauren Higgins
July 2, 2012

Hitch Interpersonal conflict in film is just the same as in real life. Conflict is personal and it might be defined as angry disagreement. “When conflict erupts, emotions are involved, and the relationship can be threatened if the conflict is not resolved amicably” (Sole 2011). In the movie Hitch there was interpersonal conflict between two people. The conflict was cause by communication. In any relationship communication is a key role. When entering a relationship you need to be able to effectively communicate. If you do not communicate effectively then that will cause the relationship to have interpersonal conflict. The two main characters in the movie are Hitch and Sara Melar. When they meet and start a relationship they get to know each other and enjoy each other and the relationship. They become friends and they talk about almost everything to get to know each other and then they develop an intimate relationship. They are self-disclosing information with each other, Hitch leaves out certain information about his career that should be shared when in a relationship. Sara’s friend gets dumped by someone she was having an intimate relationship with because of a so called “date doctor.” Sara then formed a bad opinion about this “date doctor” due to what happened to her friend. Sara finds out that the “date doctor” is Hitch and becomes furious. Sara goes to Hitch’s house for dinner and confronts him about his job. Hitch does not give her any information because she is acting childish. She starts by throwing food at him and then he finally threw food back and she storms out of his house. She just assumed that he was giving men way to play women, which was not true. Had she confronted his using basic assertion, which is the lowest level of assertion to resolve conflict (Sole 2011). Sara does not listen to what Hitch has to say about what he does or why does it. He tries to reach out to her and explain but since she has already for an opinion because of what happened to her friend she will not hear it. Instead she wrote a negative article in the paper about him being the “date doctor” and that he is a manipulator and could get any man in bed with any woman. Hitch still tried to explain to her what he does when she shows up at the speed date that Sara is at and she will not listening. They argue with each other the entire time. Hitch finds out why Sara does not like his profession. Being her friend was dumped by Vance and that is when Hitch told her that Vance is a pig and he refused to work with him. Sara realized that she was wrong and that is when she goes to his house to talk to him and apologize, Hitch just turns and walks away. After clearing things up for another couple, one of his clients, he realizes that he needs to talk to Sara. At first Sara would not talk to him but eventually things worked out. There are a lot of things that could have been handled differently. When Hitch was self-disclosing information about himself he could have been honest and tell her exactly what he does. This would have left their relationship with not conflict. Also, when Sara found out that Hitch was the “date doctor” she could have went to his house for dinner and asked questions instead of playing childish games and throwing food at him. Instead she let her first impressions of the “date doctor” take over her emotions. She could have looked at the source to see if it was believable or not.
Reference:
Sole K. (2011). Making Connections: Understanding Interpersonal Communication. Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Retrieved from www.content.ashford.edu
Mordaunt, W., Tadross, M. (Executive Producers), &Tennant, A. (Director). (2005). Hitch [Film]. Los Angeles: Sony Pictures.